Bonvivant

Bonvivant at the vegetable pass

The plate leaves the pass without a meat substitute to hide behind. Bonvivant in Berlin works inside that constraint, a Schöneberg restaurant built around fully vegan creative cooking, brunch, and cocktails. Nikodemus Berger leads the kitchen as head chef, with a philosophy centred on authentic vegetable and legume work rather than faux meats, and on taste, texture and presentation drawn from regional, seasonal produce. The house was founded around 2019 by Leif Lüdtke and Mahmoud El-Sayed as a vegetable-forward venue, and its name, French for living the good life, points at the register the room aims for. The restaurant holds 1 Michelin star, recognition attached to this address, and its work sits in a smaller room where the table can still feel close to the bench. The cooking asks vegetables, legumes, herbs, and texture to carry the whole sentence.

Leaf to root, glass to course

Bonvivant began around 2019 as a vegetable-forward house and moved toward a fully vegan identity, with dinner fully vegan in 2025 and brunch following in 2026. The method favors regional and seasonal produce, especially from Brandenburg, with a leaf to root discipline and a zero waste habit running through the kitchen. Grilling appears as one of the ways the team builds depth without leaning on meat or fish; the point is not imitation, but pressure, heat, char, sweetness, bitterness, and the timing of the cut. The menu can move through tasting formats, à la carte plates, brunch, and small dishes, but the craft question stays the same: how much structure can a plant carry when the station gives it enough attention. The beverage side answers in the same register. Cocktails, including paired alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, are part of the house’s identity, not a decorative afterthought. The bar works beside the kitchen, glass by glass, with the same appetite for acidity, aroma, and finish.

A Schöneberg room with the pass in earshot

The room keeps its polish low to the table. Wall art, a cozy scale, and a relaxed Schöneberg rhythm let the cooking arrive without ceremony weighing it down. Conversation stays possible; that matters in a place where brunch and fine dining share the same address. The pass has to hold two tempos, the slower arc of a tasting menu and the quicker pleasure of pancakes, grilled cheese tomato sandwiches, wild garlic soup, vegetarian goulash, or Kaiserschmarrn. None of those dishes needs a speech before it lands. In the room, the work reads through sequence: a herb gathered for its lift, a grilled edge, a cocktail adjusted to a course, a plate cleared while the next station turns. Some of those herbs are collected by the team itself, which keeps the sourcing close enough to check.

The constraint that keeps giving

Bonvivant’s place in Berlin is tied to a narrow fact: Germany’s only Michelin-starred restaurant offering brunch is also counted among the fully vegan starred restaurants worldwide. Inside the room, it is more practical. Each service has to prove the idea again without leaning on novelty. The next work here will be judged at the pass, where a Brandenburg vegetable, a cocktail glass, and the Bonvivant brunch all meet the same discipline.